


Like someone in love

by buffays



Category: Friends (TV)
Genre: Confessions, F/F, Friendship, Lesbian Character, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26736154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buffays/pseuds/buffays
Summary: At times, Rachel thought she'd never get to experience the love so many of her friends have. That is, until she meets Julie.
Relationships: Rachel Green/Julie (Friends)
Kudos: 12





	Like someone in love

**Author's Note:**

> hmmm some basic modifications to canon  
> >rachel is a lesbian  
> >julie and ross never dated  
> i think that's pretty much it. i wish i hadn't needed to invent this ship tag lol, but hopefully this will motivate other people to think about this cute ship.  
> barely edited, any mistakes are my own.

When Rachel first sees Julie, it’s Ross that introduces them.

She’s pretty. Rachel watches her from behind the Central Perk counter, she’s not really allowed to take a break right now, but she can still hear bits of conversation. Julie went to grad school with Ross, they weren’t exactly close but they knew each other from class. Julie was in charge of the dig Ross traveled to participate, so they rekindled their friendship.

Rachel tries not to stare too much. Every few seconds she looks down, pretends she’s focusing on the mugs she’s drying with a towel. The movements are mechanical and by now she could do them with her eyes closed (without breaking anything, thank you very much). Still, she averts her gaze and tries to pretend that she isn’t thinking about Julie’s voice, or the way her hair frames her delicate face. 

It’s not like Rachel hasn’t gotten crushes on women before, she thought Phoebe was pretty cute during the first weeks after they became friends. But she hasn’t allowed herself to date women since coming out, the idea of it terrified her, no matter how many times she talked to Carol or Susan about it she still hadn’t been able to put herself out there, let herself be vulnerable.

This feels different somehow, she’s compelled to go over where Julie is sitting and try to make jokes just to hear her laugh some more. It’s silly, Rachel doesn’t even know the girl, for God’s sake, and yet she can’t deny that there’s something about Julie that makes her special.

She watches Monica get up from the armchair and walk towards her.

“So, what did you think of Julie? Ross seems kinda happier with her around, I think.” 

Rachel looks at Julie who’s taking a sip of her coffee, looks at the mug in her hands that must’ve been dry for several minutes now, looks back at Monica.

“She seems nice, I guess.”

* * *

On Friday, Ross invites all of them to have dinner at his place. It’s been two weeks since he got back from China, and he’s spent most of his time helping Carol with Ben, so he insists on having everyone over at his apartment for some pizza and a movie. 

After that one day, Julie stopped by the coffee shop two times. One to return some files that she had borrowed from Ross, and another just to relax for a bit before going back to work. That afternoon Julie complimented Rachel’s choice of shoes, it was the highlight of her week.

It’s safe to say she’s pretty excited to see Julie again. She feels as if she’s a teenager again, she spends an hour trying on outfits, and then another hour just fixing her hair and makeup. She makes sure to wear the black heels Julie said she thought were beautiful.

Monica laughs at how much effort she’s putting into her looks. “Are you going on a date or something that I’m not aware of?”

Rachel rolls her eyes and reapplies her lip gloss. “Of course not! I just wanted to… Feel nice tonight. For no special reason.”

Monica gives her a suspicious look. “No special reason? You know, for some reason I just can’t believe you. But I’ll figure out what you’re up to in no time, don’t worry.”

It’s Chandler who opens the door for them when they arrive. His breath already smells like beer and Rachel scrunches her nose. “You really couldn’t hold off on drinking until we arrived?”

“Maybe if  _ someone _ hadn’t taken almost two hours getting ready we might have gotten here earlier.” Monica complains while walking past her towards the kitchen where Ross is.

“Monica!” Rachel reprehends her. 

She quickly scans the room looking for Julie, and her heart beats a bit faster once she sees her. Rachel smiles involuntarily and Chandler gives her a weird look and she ignores it in favor of going over to greet Julie. 

“Hi Rachel!” Julie gets up from her seat on the couch and gives Rachel a brief hug. She’s warm and her perfume smells sweet. “Oh my God, I love your jacket! Do you remember when you got it from?”

“Oh, I think I got it from a Bloomingdale’s sale last year.” She replies, sitting down next to Julie.

“It’s really gorgeous I love it! I’ve been thinking of going out shopping soon, I mentioned it to Monica but she told me she was busy this weekend. Would you be up for it?”

Rachel tucks her hair behind her ear and smiles. “Of course! I’d love to.” 

When Julie moves her hand to touch Rachel’s in thank you, she thinks they might be having a moment there. A  _ real _ moment. She barely has time to feel stupid for being hopeful before Chandler comes hand her a beer.

“So, I’m not even invited to girls out day? That’s so rude.” He jokes, and Rachel fights the urge to smack him a little in the head. Immediately after that wonderful interruption Ross calls out for Julie’s help in the kitchen and then she’s gone. 

Rachel takes a sip of her beer and tries not to smile to herself again. Although she knows it’s not a date, she can’t help but feel giddy at the prospect of spending some alone time with Julie. She never felt this excited to hang out with any of her past boyfriends, for obvious reasons, but she still remembers how important the first time getting to know each other is for relationships. Not that she expects Julie to date her or anything like that.

It would be nice to hold hands with her at the mall though, Rachel thinks while she ignores the conversation around her. She hopes she can make that happen soon.

* * *

Rachel has a night shift on Saturday, so Julie picks her up for lunch. 

She tries not to spend too much time picking out her clothes, and it’s not like she can ask for Monica’s help because she’s not ready to admit her crush to other people just yet. She builds her look around this cute skirt she got recently and hopes that’s enough to impress Julie.

They make small talk in the cab, Rachel asks Julie about the excavation she was overseeing and interestingly enough she’s actually interested in what she has to say. It’s funny, because if it was Ross she would’ve tuned him out by now, but Julie has such a nice voice and suddenly Rachel wants to listen to her talk about absolutely anything.

Rachel lets Julie choose their destination and they end up at this quaint japanese restaurant. The inside is cute, the decorations aren’t overwhelming and the feeling it gives is very homey. Everything is wonderful until she sees the prices on the menu. It’s still hard getting by on waitressing, and she counts on Monica to pay most of the bills. 

Rachel tries not to feel too embarrassed by not ordering anything big, but Julie still notices.

“Is there something wrong?” She pauses, “Oh God, you don’t even like japanese do you? I’m so sorry! I should’ve asked before dragging you here, it’s not good for you to eat so little!”

Rachel fidgets nervously, “It’s not that don’t worry, I love sushi! It’s just that you know… Being a waitress doesn’t really pay well and I have some payments due soon.” She feels a bit of shame run through her, no matter how much time passes she doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to struggling, “But it’s okay! I’m not that hungry anyway.”

Julie reaches over and places her hand on top of Rachel’s. Her touch is so gentle, Rachel’s never been treated to delicately by any guy she ever knew. “You know what? Order whatever you want, it’s my treat.” She smiles kindly, “Think of it as a thanks for helping my fashion ignorant self.”

Rachel turns over her palm to squeeze Julie’s hand for a moment, hoping it conveys how thankful she is. And then she calls the waiter over.

* * *

Rachel pours more piña colada in her glass, and moves back to the balcony where the other girls are.

Phoebe is in the middle of telling them about the last guy she got involved with, this guy named Johnathan who’s the brother of one of her massage clients. He seemed super sweet at first but Phoebe is starting to suspect she only attracts creeps.

“And then! He tries to have sex with me while his mother is in the living room!” Rachel and Monica gasp in reaction.

“No way he’d do that.” Monica says in disbelief.

“With the old lady wide awake?” Rachel asks.

“Yes! I get having a roommate or whatever, but with your mom there? I got out as fast as I could.” She takes a few more sips of her drink and giggles, “His thing wasn’t even that big anyway.”

“Phoebe!” Rachel exclaims while laughing.

They all sit there for a couple of minutes in silence, playing with their straws and thinking. Rachel can already feel the effect the alcohol is having in her body. She feels warm, her heart is beating faster than usual, it makes her never want to get up again. She could probably sleep comfortably in the balcony, and when she has that thought she knows she’s drunk enough to confess.

“You guys, I have something that I’ve been meaning to say…” Rachel sits up straighter, “But you need to promise that you won’t freak out or judge me!”

Phoebe and Monica nod their heads and wait.

“Okay so… I think I like Julie.” She grits her teeth and waits for the girls’ reaction.

“Oh my God! That’s huge!” Phoebe exclaims. 

“It’s not huge! I just… Think she’s cute. And nice to be around!” It feels nice to casually talk about women like this, for the longest time she wouldn’t even admit to herself the possibility of a crush happening, even less talking about it with her girl friends. Rachel knows she’s very lucky to be surrounded by who she is.

Phoebe continues to tease her, “ _ Rachel has a girlfriend!” _

Rachel fakes scandal in return, “I do not! We’re just friends I swear! We had fun shopping and that was all. Although… She did pay for my lunch.”

Before Phoebe can say anything, Monica gets serious, “Rach, I know this is a big deal, so I really think you should clear it with Ross before actually doing anything. I’m pretty sure he’s into her too.”

“Oh no, really? I hope he’s okay with all this… I mean, I know he took Carol coming out pretty bad, and we haven’t really talked about it with him ever since I told all of you guys on New Years.” She looks sadly at the piña colada in her hand, “I don’t really think I’m ready to give up on Julie though.”

Monica scoots closer and gently pats Rachel on the back, “Honey, it’ll be alright. If the worst happens, Julie will pick Ross. Or maybe even reject him too!” Rachel scoffs at the negativity being said in a comforting tone, “What I’m trying to say is: don’t let Ross stop you. Tell her how you feel, that way the decision is up to her, not what my brother thinks.”

“She’s right, Rachel. Besides, you two would be the cutest couple ever!”

Rachel gives both her friends a fond look, “Thank you guys. I’ll try to work up the courage to ask her on a date soon… Just be prepared for me freaking out if that does happen, I’ll probably need an entire day to choose my outfit!”

They all laugh together and Rachel feels more at peace.

* * *

It happens so fast, one minute Rachel is laughing at one of Chandler’s jokes and before she knows it she’s going out with Julie.

When telling the story to someone else (she fantasizes about the future, months from now when a friendly face asks about how they got together) she knows it’ll be hilarious. She’ll talk about how she spent weeks trying to work up the courage to confess to Julie. How her heart raced whenever she saw her come in the coffee house. She’ll joke about the way she was scared of talking to Ross, and how that’s the reason she was putting off the whole thing.

The gang is having a barbecue, the guys insisted because of the important basketball game that’s going to happen. Rachel doesn’t care about that, but she enjoys her food and the margarita Monica prepared for them. Julie shows up a bit late, she apologizes for not being on time, and then is embarrassed when she finds out Ross didn’t tell everyone she was coming.

It’s nice, seeing Julie get shy, she has the habit of fiddling with her hair whenever she’s in the spotlight, and Rachel loves seeing her do it. Not wasting the opportunity to spend time with her crush, Rachel gets up from the couch and takes her to the balcony to serve her food and a drink. Rachel chats away about the annoying customer at work that day and Julie hums in response. It’s a nice moment, the night is warm and Rachel feels thankful Julie came.

“Rach, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” It’s the first time Julie spoke directly to her today, she seems nervous, avoiding eye contact.

“Oh, sure go ahead.”

Julie takes the plate and the drink out of Rachel’s hands and places them down on the table. “Okay so, the reason I came here tonight isn’t because of the game or the dinner. I know that Ross is one of my closest friends, so you guys probably think I only hang out with you because of him, but that’s not true.” She takes one of Rachel’s hands between her own, “You’re special to me Rach, in a way that Ross isn’t special or Monica isn’t special. So I came here tonight to ask you if you wanted to go out with me. On a real date, where I pay the bill and we walk around the city at night. I’ve been thinking about it for way too long and I don’t think I can pretend that my feelings aren’t real anymore.”

The warmth of Julie’s hands and the vulnerability in her eyes makes Rachel tear up immediately. Without thinking twice she leaps forward and hugs Julie, tight. 

“I’d love that, you have no idea how long I’ve been thinking about you, Julie.” 

They smile at each other and everything seems good in the world just for a moment.

* * *

At Carol and Susan’s wedding everyone congratulates them.

Some of the lesbians Rachel met once or twice pat her on the back or hug her, they whisper about how happy she looks, how proud they are about her first relationship. Rachel loves her friends dearly, but this specific feeling of safety and community keeps her emotions out of control all night. She cries when Carol and Susan say yes to each other, and she cries when she sees them having their first dance as a married couple. 

That moment, when Julie takes her hand and holds her close like that, chin resting on Rachel’s shoulder as a slow song plays in the background, is the most happy she’s felt in a very long time.

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is welcome as always!! the current friends fandom seems pretty small so lets support each other:)


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